2008 Woodie Awards
Iraq gov't and Mahdi Army confront Shiites
By: THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Issue date: 3/27/08 Section: World
BAGHDAD - Shiite militiamen are everywhere. Police and Iraqi army checkpoints are nowhere in sight. U.S. soldiers are keeping their distance.
Sadr City - the Baghdad nerve center for the powerful Mahdi Army - is suddenly back on edge as the militia leader, Muqtada al-Sadr, and Iraq's government lock in a dangerous confrontation over clout and control among the nation's majority Shiites.
The epicenter of the showdown has been the southern oil hub of Basra, where clashes have claimed dozens of lives this week and al-Sadr's forces face a Friday deadline to surrender.
But a more finely tuned measure of the tensions may be found among the one- and two-story homes and shabby storefronts of Sadr City. As the crisis deepened, The Associated Press toured Sadr City yesterday to observe its rapid swing from relative quiet to a return of the Mahdi Army swagger before the U.S. military troop buildup in Baghdad last year.
Sadr City - named after Muqtada al-Sadr's father, who was assassinated in 1999 - is seen as critical to the overall stability and security of the capital.
A resurgence of Mahdi Army attacks and opposition could roll back the gains that have allowed Baghdad residents to take cautious steps toward normal life and offered Washington hope of accelerating troop withdrawals.
But recent days have resurrected old challenges.
Al-Sadr's militia forces, estimated at about 60,000, now seem itching for a fight. The current crisis came to a head over U.S. and Iraqi raids that have detained hundreds of Mahdi Army loyalists even as the group maintained a shaky cease-fire since August - which the Pentagon has credited for helping bring down violence.
The tensions have spilled over into street battles in Basra between Mahdi fighters and Iraqi government forces. Fighting also has flared in other cities across southern Iraq's Shiite heartland - where Iran is hedging its bets by supporting factions of the Mahdi Army and its main Shiite rival.
Sadr City - the Baghdad nerve center for the powerful Mahdi Army - is suddenly back on edge as the militia leader, Muqtada al-Sadr, and Iraq's government lock in a dangerous confrontation over clout and control among the nation's majority Shiites.
The epicenter of the showdown has been the southern oil hub of Basra, where clashes have claimed dozens of lives this week and al-Sadr's forces face a Friday deadline to surrender.
But a more finely tuned measure of the tensions may be found among the one- and two-story homes and shabby storefronts of Sadr City. As the crisis deepened, The Associated Press toured Sadr City yesterday to observe its rapid swing from relative quiet to a return of the Mahdi Army swagger before the U.S. military troop buildup in Baghdad last year.
Sadr City - named after Muqtada al-Sadr's father, who was assassinated in 1999 - is seen as critical to the overall stability and security of the capital.
A resurgence of Mahdi Army attacks and opposition could roll back the gains that have allowed Baghdad residents to take cautious steps toward normal life and offered Washington hope of accelerating troop withdrawals.
But recent days have resurrected old challenges.
Al-Sadr's militia forces, estimated at about 60,000, now seem itching for a fight. The current crisis came to a head over U.S. and Iraqi raids that have detained hundreds of Mahdi Army loyalists even as the group maintained a shaky cease-fire since August - which the Pentagon has credited for helping bring down violence.
The tensions have spilled over into street battles in Basra between Mahdi fighters and Iraqi government forces. Fighting also has flared in other cities across southern Iraq's Shiite heartland - where Iran is hedging its bets by supporting factions of the Mahdi Army and its main Shiite rival.
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